Amar's U-turn on Sonia angers SC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday criticised Amar Singh for approaching the court with 'unclean hands', as the former Samajwadi Party leader withdrew the allegations made against Congress president Sonia Gandhi five years ago —accusing her of initiating a concerted campaign to get his phone tapped.

He told the bench comprising justice GS Singhvi and justice AK Ganguly that the allegations have been withdrawn due to the changed circumstances. The lawyer added the allegations were founded on the basis of his client's personal knowledge. He placed his submissions that were also part of a fresh affidavit filed by Singh.

On hearing Singhvi's submissions, the bench called Singh's personal knowledge as 'dubious'. It expressed its unhappiness over the change of his stand against the ruling party and told the counsel nothing survived in his writ petition of 2006 that was filed seeking a direction declaring the two orders as void.

"In view of your revised affidavit, how you affirm the allegations against the political party through its president... There is a major change in your submissions. You are withdrawing the allegations. The court has become a victim of your affidavit," the bench told Singhvi.

The court was perturbed over the fact it devoted more than four years to the case. "How many hours and days were spent on your case," it said. "Your averments, based on personal knowledge, cannot change. When you say that it is personal knowledge, it means it is something that you know personally and which cannot change with the passage of time," the court added.

It asked Singhvi why the court should entertain a petition filed by a person who has not come with clean hands.

The SC has also sought an explanation from the Delhi government over the delay in filing chargesheet in the case.